Bankers visit classrooms across the country on Oct. 19 to teach credit education
Bankers across the country are celebrating the American Bankers Association Foundation’s Get Smart About Credit Day on Oct. 19 by visiting high school classrooms to teach teens how to use credit effectively.
Get Smart About Credit Day, celebrated annually on the third Thursday of October, is one of three ABA Foundation youth financial education campaigns. The program encourages bankers to present lessons on important financial obstacles facing young adults, including paying for college, knowing their credit score, managing money, protecting their identity, and new this year, careers in banking.
Through Get Smart About Credit, nearly 5,400 bankers will deliver financial education lessons to more than 163,000 teens this year. These presentations are scheduled to take place in every U.S. state, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“A strong understanding of financial fundamentals is essential to a successful future,” said Corey Carlisle, executive director of the ABA Foundation. “Year after year, we’re thrilled to see so many bankers participate in Get Smart About Credit and deliver these critical lessons to their local communities.”
To mark Get Smart About Credit Day, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols will partner with Burke & Herbert Bank, Freedom Bank, WashingtonFirst Bank and the Virginia Bankers Association to volunteer at Junior Achievement’s Finance Park facility in Fairfax, Va. Over the course of the volunteer event, approximately 130 8th grade students will hear firsthand accounts from bankers about the importance of setting a budget to manage their money.
This year, Get Smart About Credit is sponsored by Fiserv, T.D. Bank, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank.
To encourage banker participation, the ABA Foundation offers free informational webinars, as well as lesson plans, program materials and real-time customer support.
Registered banks are featured on a list of participating banks on the ABA Foundation’s website and in press materials. Since 1997, the ABA Foundation’s financial education programs have reached over 9.1 million young people with the help of more than 225,000 banker volunteers.